Portable machine for grooving railway-sleepers.



A. GOLLET. PORTABLE MAGHINEI'OR GROOVING RAILWAY SLEEPERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8, 1911.

Patented Feb, 24, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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I flu COLUMBIA PLANOGRA PH cm. Wunm D. c.

v A. COLLET. PORTABLE MACHINE FOR GROOVING RAILWAY SLEEPERS.

APPLICATION FILBDMAR. 8, 1911.

Patented Feb. 24, 19m

.4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' WITNESSES! I COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH couwumm-rou. D. C.

A. GOLLET.

PORTABLE MACHINE FOR GROOVING RAILWAY SLEEPERS. APPLIOATION FILED MAR. a, 1911.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

. 4 SHEETS-SHBET 3.

COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH cm. WASHINGTON. D. c.

. A. GOLLET. PORTABLE MACHINE FOR GROOVING RAILWAY SLEEPERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8, 1911.

Patented Feb. 24,1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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lNVENTOR COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 10., WAsmNaTbN. n. c

I ilNTTED STATES PATENT ()FFIOE.

ALBERT COLLET, 0F PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIG-NOR TO STE MAURICE ET PIERRE COLLET ET CIE., OF PARIS, FRANCE.

PORTABLE MACHINE FOR GROOVING'r RAILWAY-SLEEPERS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT COLLET, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at 4-1 Rue Cardinet, Paris, France, have invented a new and useful Portable Machine for Grooving Railway-Sleepers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a portable machine for rooving railway sleepers, more especially designed for operating upon sleepers in timber yards. It is capable of operating upon a large number of sleepers, that is to say, about 200 sleepers per hour, by making the grooves on which rests the foot or the chair of the rail at both ends of the sleeper simultaneously.

This grooving machine consists chiefly of a truck mounted upon wheels having two carriages movable longitudinally and parallel with the axis of the truck on each side of the latter, each of which carriages carries a motor, by preference electric and havcutting tool keyed on the upper part of the spindle.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed Marchfi, 1811.

mg a vertical spindle directly actuating a The grooving by boring has the advantage I of avoiding the saw cuts and tearing of the fibers which are produced by the ordinary;

grooving machines.

Each sleeper being operated on is car-l ried by a rocking support having on each side two symmetrical sets of sliding grippers between which the sleepers are grippedi. This symmetrical arrangement has for ob-i ject to allow a sleeper to be put in place and its position adjusted while another sleeper is being operated on in order to; Moreover, thel avoid any loss of time.

wheels of the truck are mounted upon pivots so that by lifting the truck by means of screw jacks it can turn 90 in order to move the portable grooving machine over trans versely placed rails and bring it from one track on to .another.

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawing will enable the construction and operation of this port- 1 able grooving machine to be fully understood.

Figure 1 is an elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a side view partly in section. Fig. 8 is a plan in one part of which certain members, represented on the other part, have been omitted in order to allow of showing the details of the mechanism. Fig. 4 is a Patented Feb. 24, 1914. Serial No.-613,025.

section drawn to a larger scale illustrating the mounting and blocking of the wheels. F 1g. 5 is also a section drawn to a larger scale showing a view of a jaw for fixing the sleepers. Fig. 6 is a front view drawn to a larger scale illustrating the mounting of the motor on the two cylindrical bars over which it can move longitudinally. Figs. 7 to 16 are diiferent views=of several kinds of cutting tools which can be used on the grooving machine.

The grooving machine consists chiefly of a truck mounted upon wheels on which are arranged the rocking support for the sleepers, the cutting tools and their operating mechanism.

The truck A, generally of square shape, constructed of iron angle bars and U-shaped iron bars of different dimensions suitably connected together by tie-bars, is mounted upon four wheels B which allow it to be moved over the tracks for the purpose of transporting it from one timber yard to anto the rails, and a spring bolt 01 allows of fixing the wheel in position (Fig. 4).

In order to transport the grooving machine between two parallel tracks it is lifted by the cross-bar C at each end of which a lifting jack has been placed, its four wheels are caused to pivot and it is then moved over the intermediate rails, arranged perpendicularly to the tracks; the preceding operation is then repeated in the con trary direction and the grooving machine is in position ready to travel over the new track. Each wheel can also be blocked by' means of a shoe N actuated by a screw handwheel 0,, this arrangement serving as a brake during the displacements.

The sleepers are held in a rocking support which consists of two groups of members arranged symmetrically on two sides of the truck perpendicularly to the direction in which the sleepers will be placed. Each group consists respectively of a cast iron piece 6 which can be made in various shapes forming four vertical dove-tail guides f along which can freely move slides forming jaws g carrying at one of their ends pins or points it designed to embed themselves in the wood of the sleepers to firmly hold them.

The movement of each slide or jaw g is caused by means of a screw 1' actuated, through the medium of bevel pinions j, 70, by a hand-wheel D (as shown in detail at Fig. 5).

The jaws g which are eight in number allow of fixing two sleepers, two jaws 'arranged in the same vertical axis being neces sary for each end. Of these two sleepers that marked E (at the right-hand side of Fig. 1) is in position to be immediately grooved; the other marked E (on the lefthand side) is only made ready to avoid the loss of time which the fixing would entail. In order to allow of bringing the second sleeper E into the place of the first sleeper E after the latter has been grooved and then removed, the pieces 6 are each mounted upon a horizontal axle n which can turn in a bracket 0 formed on the truck, which axles n are fixed by sleeves p and rods 9. Owing to this arrangement, by causing the rocking support to rotate 180 in the direction of the arrow F, the sleeper E can be brought to the place formerly occupied by the sleeper E, in which position it is ready to be operated on by the cutting tools. This operation is effected by hand by acting upon tubes m in the form of half rings fixed to arms Z extending from the guides f and piece 6. The jaws which have become vacant by the removal of the sleeper E are then used for fixing a fresh sleeper which is afterward brought in the same Way into contact with the cutting tools.

Before each rotation of the rocking support it is necessary to disengage by hand spring bolts r fixed to the pieces e from staples or boxes 8 arranged at a suitable point on each side of the truck A. These bolts which maintain thewholefixing arrangement during the action of the cutting tools automatically engage in their staples or boxes after each rotation by means of inclined surfaces t preceding the said staples or boxes in the direction of rotation.

The lower jaws g at the right-hand side of the drawing (Fig. 1) and the upper aws at the left-hand side serve to regulate the depth of the grooves, while the others, namely the upper jaws at the right-hand side and the lower jaws at the left-hand side are operated for fixing and removing the sleepers. This provision for effecting an adjustment for each sleeper, the thickness ofwhich may slightly vary, allows of obtaining rooves by a given depth. Levers it hinge to the sides of the truck A and subjected to the action of strong springs 'u serve to deaden the shocks caused at each rotation of the rocking support, and facilitate the disengagement of the sleeper after it has been grooved.

The cutting tools G are directly actuated by vertical motors H, electric for example, which impart to them a rapid movement of rotation. These motors, and consequently the cutting tools are fixed to carriages P which can move over bars w arranged on each side of the truck perpendicularly to the sleepers. These bars w are adjustable in the transverse direction by means of screws L to allow of grooves being made at different distances apart. The displacement of each motor is effected by means of a screw :12 actuated by hand through the medium of a crank handle 9/ on the outside of the truck. The crank handles 1 can be connected togetherinstead of being inde pendently operated. I

Upon each displacement of a motor the cutting tool which it actuates operates upon one end of the sleeper arranged for this purpose and forms a groove of which the diameter equals the width of the cutting tool, the length equals the width of the sleeper and the depth corresponds to the difference of level between the upper part of the blades of the cutter and the face of the sleeper. Therefore, by a complete forward and return movement of the two motors, grooves can be made at both ends of two sleepers.

To prevent accidents and to protect the driving mechanism of the cutting tools from the chips or cuttings resulting from the grooving operation plates .2, which are only interrupted at the place occupied by the sleeper to be grooved, cover the path traversed by the cutters.

In cases where the grooving is required to be made with an inclination of a twentieth for placing Vignole rails in position, for example, it is necessary to be able to give the motor the required inclination to the vertical, and to this end, the eyes R of the carriage P which supports the motor are of different heights, (the outer eye is higher than the inner eye) and are provided with eccentric rings 8 locked in position by lateral bolts T, and to cause the said inclination it is only necessary to loosen the eyes and, with a spanner applied to the hexagon head U provided on an extension of each eccentric sleeve, to cause a. half revolution of the sleeves to give the motor the proper inclination to make the groove at the required angle.

The cutting tools used may be of dimensions and shapes. For example, they may be like those shown in Figs. 5 to 11 and consist of blades or cutters J, or of tubes having double cutting edges or gouges various K mounted by means of bolts upon arms fixed to a boss actuated by the motor H.

The cutting tool represented in Figs. 13 to 16 is a combination of the two former cutters in which the blades J and the gouges K located at different distances from the center of rotation work in different planes for the purpose of forming the groove for a Vignole track, the profile of which is indicated by the dot-and-dashdines in Figs. 13 to 15. The double cutting tubes or gouges K have the advantage that they can be used for a very long time before requiring to be sharpened as only half of one of the cutting edges M operates on the wood of the sleepers. Consequently, by turning the gouge 180 in its holder and by completely reversing it, it can be used four times before having to be sharpened. To render the machine suitable for grooving for the distance apart of a meter, it is only necessary to remove the crossbars A and replace them by shorter crossbars; also to remove the spacing rods or tie-bars q and replace them by shorter rods.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1. In a transportable apparatus for grooving railway sleepers, the combination of a rotatable support, said support having means for clamping a sleeper thereon and adapted, upon rotation of said support, to bring a sleeper thereon into position to be grooved, and cutters movable transversely across the face of a sleeper held in grooving position upon said support, said support having other means for clamping a sleeper thereon, said other means being adapted to receive a sleeper when the first means is holding the first sleeper in position to be grooved, and adapted, upon further rotation of said support, to bring the sleeper thereon into position to be grooved after the operation upon the first sleeper has been completed.

2. In a transportable apparatus for grooving railway sleepers, the combination of a rotatable sleeper-support, said support having means for clamping sleepers thereon 180 apart, and cutters movable transversely across the face of a sleeper held in grooving position upon said support, said support permitting of a sleeper being placed in position thereon while another sleeper is being operated upon by said cutter, said first sleeper being brought into position to be operated upon by the cutter by a rotation of said'support after the operation upon the other sleeper has been completed.

3. In a transportable apparatus for grooving railway sleepers, the combination of a rotatable sleeper-support, said support having means for clamping sleepers thereon 180 apart, and cutters movable transversely across the face of a sleeper held in grooving position upon said support, said support permitting of a sleeper being placed in position thereon while another sleeper is being operated upon by said cutter, said first sleeper being brought into position to be operated upon by the cutter by a rotation of said support after the operation upon the other sleeper has been completed, and means for locking said support in its rotated position.

4. In a transportable apparatus for grooving railway sleepers, the combination of a rotatable sleeper-support, said support having means for clamping sleepers thereon 180 apart, and rotary cutters movable transversely across the face of a sleeper held in grooving position upon said support, said support permitting of a sleeper being placed in position thereon while another sleeper is being operated upon by said cutter, said first sleeper being brought into position to be operated upon by the cutter by a rotation of said support after the operation upon the other sleeper has been completed.

5. In a transportable apparatus for grooving railway sleepers, the combination of a rotatable sleeper-support, and cutters, said support having means for clamping sleepers thereon 180 apart, said support permitting of a sleeper being placed in position thereon while another sleeper is being operated upon by said cutters, said first sleeper being brought into position to be operated upon by the cutters by a rotation of said support after the operation upon the other sleeper has been completed, and said cutters being movable transversely of said support, whereby to cut grooves transversely across the face of a cross-tie, and means adapted to vary the inclination at which said cutters are adapted to cut.

6. In a transportable apparatus for grooving railway sleepers, the combination of a rotatable sleeper-support, and cutters, said support having means for clamping sleepers thereon 180 apart, said support permitting of a sleeper being placed in position thereon while another sleeper is being operated upon by said cutters, said first sleeper being brought into position to be operated upon by the cutters by a rotation of said support after the operation upon the other sleeper has been completed, and means for reciprocating said cutters transversely of said suport.

p 7. In an apparatus for grooving railway sleepers, the combination of a cutter, and a rotatable carrier having a plurality of clamping means adapted to clamp sleepers longitudinally thereon, said clamping means having upper and lower movable clamping jaws, one of said clamping means being adapted to support a sleeper in position to be grooved by said cutter while a sleeper is being secured in positionin another of said clamping means, said cutter having a movement in a plane transverse to the axis of the cutter, whereby a groove may be cut in the face of a sleeper in position tobe out.

8'. In an apparatus for grooving railway sleepers, the combination of a cutter, and a rotatable carrier having a plurality of clamping means adapted to clamp sleepers longitudinally thereon, said clamping means having upper and lower movable clamping jaws, a worm for movlng sald Jaws and a hand-wheel for turning said Worm, one of said clamping means being adapted to support a sleeper in position to be grooved by said cutter while a sleeper is being secured in position in another of said clamping means, said cutter having a movement in a plane transverse to the axis of the cutter, 2 whereby a groove may be cut in the face of a sleeper in position to be cut.

ALBERT COLLET.

Witnesses:

DEAN B. MAsoN, GABRIEL BELLIARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patent:,

Washington, I). G." 

